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Date Posted: 14:31:03 10/24/25 Fri
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 49.196.177.96
Subject: Re: Gretchen's Sister Ties The Knot (HagenMrk) - A Review (Corrected)
In reply to: Curious 's message, "Gretchen's Sister Ties The Knot (HagenMrk) - A Review" on 07:06:35 10/22/25 Wed
Warning: This Review Contains Spoilers
Gretchen's Sister Ties The Knot (HagenMrk) - A Review
Part One - The Author
HagenMrk is a veteran smoking fetish fiction author who's in addition runs a 'sightings blog' that this reviewer is surprised has not been used as a source of inspiration by other writers. He has created several series of smoking fetish stories.(1)
Part Two - Gretchen's Sister Ties The Knot
The story which is the tenth story in the Gretchen Series was as far as I know first published in Vol. 109 of the Noble Leaf Library and republished in 'The Gretchen Chronicles'. Tina, younger sister of Gretchen has found someone to spend the rest of her life with. Today she is going to marry him, but will things go well.
Part Three - Comments
I'd not planned to review this story for the current batch of reviews, but having read it several times while working on the previous two reviews I think it prudent to cover it while my thoughts are still fresh. The opening of the story covers the wedding, where the differing relationship of the Paulson sisters and their children to the habit is laid out by the fact that Tina chooses not to smoke during the wedding for as long as possible, while her sisters, niece and daughter do otherwise.
For the first person narrator of the series, a fictionalised version of the author, it's another chance to see the changes in American smoking culture wrought by his wife when she was in charge of Phillip Morris. These changes are exemplified by Isabel, niece of Mitch, Tina's husband to be, who driven as she later admits by a need she "...couldn't resist..." under the circumstances lights up in front of the altar.
While the wedding itself goes smoothly it's in the reception that events begun during the wedding come to a head with Gretchen being confronted in turn by her husband over something he's just worked out about some of the wedding guests and later the mother of the groom who drunkenly rips into her for promoting smoking. Gretchen to her credit, makes an effort to calm things down just as the third major event of the reception kicks in.
Elijah, Isabel's brother makes a dubious offer to both Kaitlyn and Kilee(2) and is rebuffed, his revenge is to trip the fire suppression system.
In the soggy aftermath Kaitlyn is given the chance to show that she's her mothers daughter in more ways than just her devotion to the habit as she verbally demolishes Elijah in front of the assembled guests.
The story ends with the narrator commenting that Brayden and Elijah both shared something in common and that Brayden was likely to be the underdog in the family.(3)
There is one narrative mistake that did catch my attention, I mentioned it in my review of 'Gretchen's Red Jaguar and Velvet Dreams'(4), but this review is an opportunity to explore it in more detail. It regards the character Isabel, following Elijah's failed attempt to come on to her Kaitlyn sees Isabel and noting that she looks lonely calls her over. Kaitlyn's stated goals are to befriend Isabel and get up the noses of Elijah and his grandmother. In what follow's it's established that Kilee was aware of Isabel, but may not have known she smoked. As to Isabel, her actions during the wedding and her initial appearance in the reception scene both suggest a certain lack of confidence(5), in her second appearance exacerbated by Kaitlyn's celebrity. In the portion of the conversation between Kaitlyn, Kilee and Isabel the reader is made privy to they are given her smoking history, clues as to her relations with her smoking peers back home, see her actions during the wedding praised by Kaitlyn and see her try a stronger cigarette than she usually smokes at Kaitlyn's behest.
However in doing so the author creates a dynamic situation for the character that they don't resolve either in this story or the subsequent ones. At the least, the characters relationship with her brother is going to change as a consequence of his actions, but there are also potential changes in her relationships with her smoking peers due to her actions during the wedding, her potential change of brand and potential changes of her relationship with her family both due to her actions during the wedding and her aligning herself with the younger generation of Paulson's at the reception.
None of these things should have been left fallow, all have consequences that could have been mentioned or explored in later stories as I suspect that Isabel would have been in contact with either Kilee or Kaitlyn or both on social media, especially if the pictures of her lighting up at the wedding went viral, as they might have done, thought the author does not mention if this was the case in later stories.
In conclusion though, despite the above, I recommend this one. I also strongly recommend that the series be read from the start, not simply to see the evolution of the characters, but the authors evolution as a writer as well.
Notes:
1. The authors major series of stories are the: Trevor Series (20 stories), Gretchen Series (13 stories) and Breanna Series (7 Stories)
2. The two girls are 14 years old in this story, Elijah and his sister Isabel are both 16.
3. Brayden shows just what kind of a dog he is in the most recent story in the series 'Gretchen Goes To The Kentucky Derby'.
4. The story can be found in Vol. 135 of the Noble Leaf Library and 'The Gretchen Chronicles'.
5. When she lights up at the altar, she turns away from the crowd to do so. This may simply have been due to where she kept her cigarettes/lighter, but given she ends up a 'wallflower' at the reception it's likely she simply lacked confidence in herself as a smoker to light up facing the crowd.
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